Discuss “Life in Extreme Environments: the Atacama Desert”

Nested between the Andes and the coastal mountain ranges of Chile lies the Atacama Desert: the driest and most lifeless place on earth. Until recently, the lack of moisture and nutrients, thin atmosphere, and intense radiation led scientists to believe that the Atacama was uninhabitable by any kind of life. Five years ago, though, a team of NASA scientists disproved that theory: they found one rock with bacteria. Now, that discovery has caused the scientific community to re-evaluate their assumptions.

Carnegie Mellon was among the few institutions to receive NASA grants in order to search for “Life in the Atacama,” as the project is titled. “Life in the Atacama” began in February 2003 as a combined effort between CMU’s biology and...